Gauteng has a new skatepark, and it’s called YBF Plaza. It is situated at 54 Hornbill Road, Bryanston, Johannesburg. The opening is this Saturday. If you’re in Joburg, get there! We caught up with the director of the project, Lee Webber, to chat about the opening…

What does the YBF stand for?
Young Blood Forever.

What was the motivation behind opening the skatepark?
There has been a vision to have a skatepark on the campus for over 8 years now. I think the main motivation was always to create a safe place for the youth to skate/ride and give us the opportunity to build and positively influence the people that use it.

Tell us about your launch day event this weekend…
From the beginning we were keen to make a big day out of it, but so far the event planning, sponsor involvement and interested users have surprised us with how big it has become. The day consists of a skate competition for U12’s, U16’s, Ladies, Open and Pro’s. During lunch and towards the end of the day we have a team of BMX riders that will be involved with a BMX Demo on the park. These guys have been very helpful in getting the word out and are planning a BMX comp sometime around June. There will also be loads for the kids to do with the field being set up with a climbing wall, water inflatables, slides, train, mechanical surf board and a play station marquee.

Why did you decide to go for a more plaza style skatepark?
I grew up skating street, simply because the closest real skate park was at least an hours drive from my house. In addition to my love for a street set up I also think that most of the Joburg parks have more of a bowl/vert vibe. We were excited to add something different and more modern in terms of design. The feedback we’ve had has been very positive.

South Africa has had quite a few skateparks open and close over the years. Why do you think that is? What do you think will make YBF Plaza stick around?
I think there are a few reasons for that. One reason is that people who build a park to make money usually build in an affluent area. The downside is that the overheads that go towards the rented property are too high compared to the fees charged over and above the initial layout for building the park. On the other side you have people that offer a piece of land to use in an area with little to no value and you usually end up with a park that is not cared for and is not safe to use because of crime in the area. Often the parks are built on public or commercial properties that get shut down as soon as the next development needs land or the need for a higher return on investment arises. YBF Plaza will stick around because it is a private church project funded by the church to serve the community. The park is more valuable to us than the parking bays it was built on. We expect it to run successfully for many years.

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced building the park?
With the usual building delays and having to move the opening date twice. I think the biggest challenge is trying to end up with a perfect product in a country where there is not much experience when it comes to building a skatepark.

Is the park free or do you have to pay to skate? What made you decide to take this approach?
You would need to pay to use the park. A daily fee can be paid or the users have the option of a 1 month, 3 month or 6 month pass. All of the latter will present a saving. The main two motivations for this approach is that to the user there is more of a structured environment that places more value on the park. The second reason is that we wanted the park to be self sufficient in that the funds brought in could potentially cover the costs for flood lights, electricity, daily cleaning, sweeping and general maintenance.

How do you feel about helmet rules?
We feel that the right thing to do is that anyone under 18 years old should wear a helmet, a user over the age of 18 can sign a helmet waiver form should he wish to do so.

Who designed and built the park?
We had a basic idea of how we wanted the park to be structured early on but it was Clive Crofton that designed and sketched the park up. 95% of the construction work was done by his company Spyda Ramps.

Is the park open to everyone i.e. skateboarders, boxers, rollerbladers?
The park is open to everyone. Depending how busy it gets we may split some sessions and specify who uses the park on certain days.

Some of the biggest names in South African skateboarding and BMX are part of Mountain Dew’s award winning Dew Tour Bootcamp. The tour will visit major campuses across South Africa, offering students the chance to witness demo’s from the country’s finest. Some of the riders present include Adam Woolf, Colin Loudon and Martin Stoffberg. The Dew Tour Bootcamp boasts a freestyle skatepark where street culture, big production and action sports collide. An added highlight is the Bootcamp element, to which amateurs and enthusiasts are invited, for a training session with their favourite athletes. Once again, each event will include a gaming zone. For those who like to keep their participation a little more virtual, SKATE 3, from the award-winning SKATE franchise, is set to deliver all the rivalry of skateboarding. All this plus DJs, great give-aways, a chance to win a customised skateboard, and an endless supply of Mountain Dew, makes the Dew Tour Bootcamp a must-see event.

In episode 4, ‘The Indefinite Ride’, Volcom dives deep into the unexplainable forces of nature which created our destiny. This journey is about the future and the spiritual connection with riding, which culminates on March 1, 2014 with the global premiere tour of ‘True To This’. It’s a candid look at this cult following as seen through the 3rd eyes of Volcom team riders: Ryan Sheckler, Mitch Coleborn, Andrew Doheny, Grant Taylor, Colin Provost, Pat Moore and Rune Glifberg.

Then make sure to save the dates for the SA leg of the Global Premier Tour:
Durban 5th March – Upstairs (Spiga) 7pm
Cape Town 7th March – The Pit (Clarke’s) 7pm

True to This is a feature film celebrating America’s First Boarding Company, Volcom.

A few years ago, Rudi Jeggle was telling me about a friend of his in Northern California who was this amazing artist. He put us in touch and before I knew it he had done three graphics for Familia. Fast forward a few months and I was hanging out with Tahiti and his friends in Grass Valley and Nevada City, skating burly pools and hitting karaoke jams. More than anything I was highly inspired by Tahiti and his like-minded people. Ultimately it was this broad interaction of art, on every level, that I found to be a motivator. A sort of carpe diem approach to music, skating, painting, whatever… I came back to SA and started making music. Pretty much because of the trip. Years ago we started talking about getting him down to SA to have an exhibition, and in 2014, Tahiti is having a solo show at Salon 91. Accompanying him is David Nicholson, a filmmaker who is documenting the trip which will be screened later in the year at the Nevada City Film Festival.

Tahiti is about the funniest and mellowest dude out, and his artistic virtuosity blows my mind every time I see it. The art in itself is a testament to his drive, dedication and artistic genius. Tahiti Pehrson’s show, Connectivity, has it’s opening at Salon 91 Wednesday 26th Feb at 18.30, and will be up until 22 March. Check the Facebook event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/500683666715131. Do yourself a favour…

You’ve been here for a little over a week. Is Cape Town what you thought it would be?
I didn’t really know what to expect so I was pretty blown away. It can’t really be captured in photos. The clouds coming over Table Mountain – I can say I’ve really never seen anything like it.

Give us a brief skate history of yourself, beginnings, crews etc.
I grew up in Grass Valley in Northern California. I met Chris Senn in my second year of high school. I heard from a friend of mine that there was a dude who could do 360’s off a jump ramp every time. I had to see it myself. We started skating together a lot. Soon after he got hooked up on Powell so we would tag along on his Powell trips. My other close bro’s were on this company Trust Skateboards. Jason Clark, Genaro Vegoglini and Justin Smith. We lived in a car and just skated all the time. John Cardiel and Toad lived lived a couple minutes south of us so those guys would come blow our minds. John hooked me and another guy up on flow for Dogtown for like a year before it went under.

What would you say influenced the style you have become known for? Ie was it a natural evolution from stencil graffiti, or were there visual instances that triggered it all?
I was going to art school and it was just killing my inspiration, so I started painting in the streets. It was way more live and like skating. Plus I had a lot of experience ditching cops so it was it was pretty natural. That mentality got old after a while but the stencil idea kept evolving.

What is the process for one of your works?
It changes but in the last five years I have been into this really geometrical style. Those are made on a computer and more and more I have been drawing over the top of those… and even more now really organic stuff with no computers.

You told me your first board was a Blender, who had a large effect on skateboarders being artists etc. Did those early skate artists like Blender, Gonz, Miller etc play a role or sew seeds in your mind, or were you more interested broader artists?
Yeah man, super into those guys. I was into Salvador Dali and stuff like that too, but Blender, Gonz and Miller had this natural delivery and they lived their art. It wasn’t just a thing you produce it was a way of seeing and adapting so I took that with me.

How much does your mental state affect the designs of your work, if at all?
I’m kind of always positive. I used to be bummed or let myself fall into it but when my daughter was born I really started to stay on a positive mental path. It really works. It sounds trite but once I got into that headspace everything fell into place and the momentum started. So now it’s pretty easy to be stoked. I mean I’m in South Africa pursuing my first loves; skateboarding and art, so I can’t complain.

The Revolution team skated the Valhalla Park skatepark in Cape Town recently. It was a super hot day, but we managed to get a fun session down. At the end we were proud to be able to help some of the local kids out with a few completes.

Valhalla Park skatepark, designed by Woodies Ramps and built by Umzali Civils and Spyda Ramps, is 4300 square metres and is one of the biggest skateparks in Africa. It officially opened on the 9th of December 2013.

Revolution team rider Jean Marc’s submission for Battle At the Berrics 7 Joes vs. Pros. How tech can you get?

BATB 7 consists of games of flat ground S.K.A.T.E. This year they’re allowing entries from Ams (or Joes) to enter against the pro’s. There are currently only 6 or 7 spots left, and Jean Marc is trying to get in there.

Some of the biggest names in South African skateboarding and BMX are part of Mountain Dew’s award winning Dew Tour Bootcamp. The tour will visit major campuses across South Africa, offering students the chance to witness demo’s from the country’s finest. Some of the riders present include Adam Woolf, Colin Loudon and Martin Stoffberg. The Dew Tour Bootcamp boasts a freestyle skatepark where street culture, big production and action sports collide. An added highlight is the Bootcamp element, to which amateurs and enthusiasts are invited, for a training session with their favourite athletes. Once again, each event will include a gaming zone. For those who like to keep their participation a little more virtual, SKATE 3, from the award-winning SKATE franchise, is set to deliver all the rivalry of skateboarding. All this plus DJs, great give-aways, a chance to win a customised skateboard, and an endless supply of Mountain Dew, makes the Dew Tour Bootcamp a must-see event.

Some of the biggest names in South African skateboarding and BMX are part of Mountain Dew’s award winning Dew Tour Bootcamp. The tour will visit major campuses across South Africa, offering students the chance to witness demo’s from the country’s finest. Some of the riders present include Adam Woolf, Colin Loudon and Martin Stoffberg. The Dew Tour Bootcamp boasts a freestyle skatepark where street culture, big production and action sports collide. An added highlight is the Bootcamp element, to which amateurs and enthusiasts are invited, for a training session with their favourite athletes. Once again, each event will include a gaming zone. For those who like to keep their participation a little more virtual, SKATE 3, from the award-winning SKATE franchise, is set to deliver all the rivalry of skateboarding. All this plus DJs, great give-aways, a chance to win a customised skateboard, and an endless supply of Mountain Dew, makes the Dew Tour Bootcamp a must-see event.

Is this photo an incredible piece of history or what? Rodney Mullen skating with Minor Threat sitting on the bench on the right watching him. The photo was taking c. 1982. Not bad, Glen E. Friedman, not bad.

A thing of beauty, an art form, the utmost tech of the tech, the manual is much more than a trick—it’s a full-on discipline. Requiring a supernatural amount of patience, grace, and precision, manuals can literally break down even the best skateboarders on the planet. But when done right, few things in skateboarding are more impressive or gratifying than a solid, perfectly balanced manual.

And that’s exactly why we started 2UP, The Berrics’ first-ever manual contest. We built a handful of simple modular blocks and invited 10 of the world’s most balanced skaters to get creative and film their best tricks on two wheels. You decide the winner. Easy as that.

How to enter:
Like Revolution on Facebook
Like The Assembly on Facebook
Comment below with the artist you’re most looking forward to seeing and why.

See You Next Wednesday is basically a lucky packet of musical styles, but one things for sure, it’s going to bang! And with the mighty Sideshow & George Daniel on board, plus special guest and Drum ‘n’ Bass legend A33, it’s guaranteed! Featuring support from DDE, DJ Minx, and Southern Suburbs.

Connectivity
A Solo Show and First Exhibition in South Africa of Paper Artworks by Tahiti Pehrson

Wednesday 26 February – 22 March 2014

Artist’s Statement
For as long as I can remember I have used art to define and document my experiences. We all start that way, some of us stop doing it at some point for better suited tools of expression. The inexactness of outcome always suited me and yet my work has evolved more and more towards exactness. In the process of cutting more and more detailed works I started to become aware of variation and indeed of repetition. Each shape morphing from square to diamond to triangle, and each variation leading to the next, all forming a larger fabric and pattern. A system connected. Our world is often defined by our differences rather than the reality of parts of a whole. I became interested in the things that make us the same. Even if art is reduced only to a visual experience, trying to create an experience that could both inspire and suggest a wide variety of narratives. The viewer is invited to tailor his/her own experience, and thus engaging personally. A person of faith may read and interpret religious or spiritual implications while a more scientifically minded individual could see Geometry yet both narratives describe a larger system encompassing a whole.

There is a tension, which exists between the apparent fragility of the medium played against the strength of connectivity in a radiant fabric of variation.

Artist’s Profile
Tahiti Pehrson spent his early years without electricity growing up in a bohemian artist household in Northern California. Art was a mode of entertainment without television or music and long hours were spent in nature and drawing. Influenced by the burgeoning skateboarding and punk scene of the mid Nineteen-eighties and later engaging in the San Francisco street art and graffiti culture of the late Nineties. Traveling Europe and China in search of art enrichment and later attending the San Francisco Art Institute as a painting major, Pehrson left after a year and a half. A practice of stencil-making and street art evolved into a more and more detailed practice of paper cutting two and three-dimensional works.

Pehrson has been working and exhibiting in hand cut paper for the last fifteen years. Over the last five plus years his works have concentrated on highly detailed geometric patterns called Guilloche which date back to Classical Greek and Roman times, later to be perfected by the Rose Engine Lathe in France in the late 1700’s. Today these patterns can be seen on almost every currency in the world as well as hub cups watches and also seem to touch on the design sense intrinsic to nature. These highly detailed monochromatic works create with light and shadow a hypnotic field of Moire patterning.

With many intersections creating a larger fabric, themes in the work center around Connectivity, Systems, Variation and fragility.

Rakim, infamous hip hop artist, is the focus of Words by Rakim, a short documentary on the man.

Words is a re-introduction, and aural celebration of hip-hop’s most influential MC. Inspired by the vinyls that birthed the art form, the film is a portrait of two sides of an artist (A & B) and the streets and city he inspired. Two of his verses have been remixed… the words will never change.

Some of the biggest names in South African skateboarding and BMX are part of Mountain Dew’s award winning Dew Tour Bootcamp. The tour will visit major campuses across South Africa, offering students the chance to witness demo’s from the country’s finest.

Some of the riders present include Adam Woolf, Colin Loudon and Martin Stoffberg. The Dew Tour Bootcamp boasts a freestyle skatepark where street culture, big production and action sports collide. An added highlight is the Bootcamp element, to which amateurs and enthusiasts are invited, for a training session with their favourite athletes.

Once again, each event will include a gaming zone. For those who like to keep their participation a little more virtual, SKATE 3, from the award-winning SKATE franchise, is set to deliver all the rivalry of skateboarding. All this plus DJs, great give-aways, a chance to win a customised skateboard, and an endless supply of Mountain Dew, makes the Dew Tour Bootcamp a must-see event.

SA’s Biggest Action Sports Athletes Take to the Ramp with Mountain Dew

The biggest names in South African action sports will take to the ramp in Mountain Dew’s award winning Dew Tour Bootcamp, kicking off in mid-February. This adrenaline-fuelled roadshow will visit major campuses across the country, offering students the chance to witness exciting performances by the country’s best in freestyle BMX and skateboarding.

Featuring top athletes including Adam Woolf, Colin Loudon and Martin Stoffberg, the Dew Tour Bootcamp boasts a freestyle skate park where street culture, big production and action sports collide, giving audiences the audacious show they deserve. An added highlight is the Bootcamp element, to which amateurs and enthusiasts are invited, for a training session with their favourite athletes.

Once again, each event will include a gaming zone. For those who like to keep their participation a little more virtual, SKATE 3, from the award-winning SKATE franchise, is set to deliver all the rivalry of skateboarding. All this plus DJs, great give-aways, a chance to win a customised skateboard, and an endless supply of Mountain Dew, makes the Dew Tour Bootcamp a must-see event.

17/02/14 – Cape Peninsula University of Technology (Cape Town)
20/02/14 – University of Cape Town
24/02/14 – Cape Peninsula University of Technology (Bellville)
27/02/14 – University of Stellenbosch
07/03/14 – University of KwaZulu Natal
14/03/14 – University of Johannesburg (Kingsway)

Check out these photos from the 2013 edition of the Dew Tour Bootcamp:

Divisions for the competitions:
1. Expert/Pro
2. Open
3. Ladies
4. Under 16
5. Under 12
6. Best Trick for the Expert/Pro entrance only.

Competition Format:
1. Heats of 3 competitors comprising of 3 minute runs.
2. A semi-final using the same format. The semi-finalists will be made up of the 12 top skaters from the heats. ( Points out of 10)
3. The final will comprise of the top six competing in 2 heats with the top 5 skaters been recognized.

JHBLive visited the second Punk Fuck event and made this video, highlighting the community and camaraderie of punk in Johannesburg. It took place in Dube, Soweto, and featured performances from Black Magic Moonshine, Loui Lvndn, The Deaf Commission, Afgepis, Death Pegasus, T.C.I.Y.F, Brafcharge, The Carniwhores, The Moths, The Left-Overs, Fridge Poetry, The Slashdogs, Home At Last, Brainwreck and Jonny Joburg.

Punk, at least in most people’s eyes, is all about not giving a fuck and trying to remain on the outside… Our next fest will feature bands from other genres and we’re trying to show that we really just love the genre. That we’re not these angry, aggressive guys. – Clint Hattingh (organizer of Punk Fuck)

We want to see young kids interested in instruments. We want them to turn away from the commercial bullshit that spews garbage about bling and chains. This is real music and we want real people keen on it. – Mbuso Moose Zulu

Who are you? What do you do? What is life? What is behind the name Ninjabreadboy?

I am an illustrator and aspiring artist based in Cape Town. I currently work as a freelance illustrator but did work in the advertising world for a while and decided to go freelance at the beginning of last year for obvious reasons. I don’t use any preferred mediums for the stuff that I do, I really just enjoy trying to make cool shit with whatever is available or required on certain projects. I’m all about putting my work onto whatever I can. The name is just a personal joke; I’ve always wanted to work under an alias, and it just stuck and felt right so I just went with it.

What first got you interested in art?

I’ve always been interested in art; since I learnt how to write my name as a child. I started skating when I was very young and all the visual aspects of skateboarding were the things I really found interesting; tattoos, board graphics, graffiti, clothing, were all things I really liked looking at in skate mags. When I was 13 I remember reading an article in Blunt magazine on graffiti and there was one pic in particular that really caught my eye. It was of Wealz 130 standing on a bridge with his hands in the air, above a piece he had painted. I cut that pic out and stuck it on the wall next to my bed and remember thinking “I want to do that one day.”

Mind mentioning some of your favourite projects that you’ve worked on, and why?

Last year I got to tick some things of my list that I’ve wanted to do for a while now. I did a small range collab with 2BOP that I really enjoyed doing. We did a 5panel, tee, and bandana together and the response to it was really really good. Also I’ve been wanting to do a skateboard graphic since I started skating and I was super happy with how the board graphic came out that I did with Verb at the end of last year.

Where do you draw inspiration from?

I’m very inspired by Cape Town and my surroundings; the people, cultures, sub-cultures, and everything that goes along with it. I’ve also always been inspired by letterforms and various artforms that deal with letters. I’m always trying to find inspiration in different ways to keep my work fresh for myself. Lately I’ve really enjoyed looking at signage. Anything from old American funeral signage to more modern African street signage has all been really appealing to me lately.

You also delve into some other creative avenues e.g. tattooing and graffiti. What else do you get up to when you aren’t drawing?

When I’m not making something I’m normally skating. Lately I’ve also really enjoyed getting back into surfing, on weekends I try get to the beach as much as possible. I used to surf a lot in high school and only recently realized again how important it is for me. Skating and surfing are some of the only things that really help me to clear my mind.

Best and worst things about living in Cape Town?

I can’t think of any bad things to be honest. Maybe the City Council, and some ridiculous bylaws that have been implemented, that’s the only shit thing about Cape Town. And there are too many good things to mention. I really have mad love for this city.

For iJusi #28

Got any exciting future projects you can talk about?

I’m busy with some really nice projects at the moment, one of which is some signage for a local photographer that I’m really enjoying. Also been working on some illustrated label designs. Also have some exhibitions that I’ve been producing some work for. Other than that there’s a few other things in the pipeline.

Your work is often quite dark in the way it references violence or substance abuse. A lot of it seems very Cape Town inspired. What draws you to that subject matter? Are you attempting to offer a commentary on certain things?

I’ve always been interested in quite dark subject matter. I don’t know why, it’s just kind of always been that way. I really enjoy making images that have a sense of humour but at the same time have a darker twist to them. I think this is a good way of getting people to think about what they looking at. Like I said, I’m very influenced by my surroundings and feel that there is so much interesting stuff going on around me that I don’t like looking too much at what illustrators or artist are imitating or representing outside of South Africa when there is so much cool shit here that has potential to become great subject matter. I think the stuff I draw is a mash up of what I see and experience in my surroundings, and because I’ve always been attracted to the “darker” things, those are the things that catch my attention in my surroundings.

Is there life after death?

I honestly don’t know, and to my knowledge no one on earth knows, and probably will never know, so no stress.

Greg Maxwell took some nice photos from Comeback Kid’s final stop of their South African tour, at Mercury Live, Cape Town, South Africa.

Comeback Kid were supported (in order of performance) by Peasant, Take Hand, Reason to Live and Truth and Its Burden. If you were at any of the shows, you will know how good our local bands were, and how amazing it was to see Comeback Kid live. If you weren’t, then you missed out, but hopefully these photos give you a taste of what went down.

Volcom couldn’t be more ecstatic to embark on the many new and exciting projects to come, starting with Ryan’s involvement in the new surf, skate, snow film, ‘True To This’, which celebrates the connection and camaraderie of this culture that we all love. ‘True To This’ premieres on March 1st, 2014 at Volcom HQ in Costa Mesa, CA followed by a global premiere tour.

Good news for London’s skaters. Recently Mayor Boris Johnson said that he supports the London Undercroft Southbank Skatepark. He still supports the development there, but only if the skatepark remains untouched. The Southbank Centre board have decided to withhold their planning application; “The Board will now undertake a final search for an alternative funding model to keep the widely supported Festival Wing redevelopment scheme alive.”

When the original plans were announced, the skate community’s outcry was so loud that it couldn’t be ignored (see Long Live Southbank). They gave the Lambeth Council 20,000 signatures objecting.

This could be a massive win for the skateboarding community, not only in London, but worldwide.

The 6th annual Cape Tattoo Expo
28 February – 2 March 2014
Cape Town City Hall

Bringing you the best in global tattoo culture, The Cape Tattoo Expo is currently the most important lifestyle festival of its kind on the African continent. With a great range of top local and international tattoo artists attending and a very exciting arts and concert event schedule, Cape Tattoo Expo 2014 promises to be an exhilarating weekend of pure tattoo art bliss.

Event organiser Manuela Gray says attendees can expect an incredible visual display of tattoo artists from all over the world, as well as the best that South Africa has to offer. The tattoo booths are situated in various big open rooms in the city hall and even if you do not book a tattoo, you will be able to see the masters doing their thing while they are working on their clients. Manuela says: “The idea of the Expo is to provide the SA public with an environment where they can get tattooed by great artists of their choosing. But, as important, it’s also a platform for tattoo artists to showcase their artistry, skill, and creativity in an open and social environment and for the SA public to see how varied and evolved the industry has become”.

There will also be an art exhibition with the theme Victorian Oddities that will open on Friday 28 February and live bands in the Auditorium on Saturday night 1 February. There are also more exciting related events in the weeks leading up to the Expo.

Join us to marvel at a display of custom sprayed tattoo artwork on helmets. The group show by tattoo artists and illustrators will showcase their work on helmets and also 3d laser cut wood helmets. Farryl Purkiss and DJ RAEL will perform at the exhibition.

Friday 21 February
Tattoo Expo Golf Day
Metropolitan Golf Club
16h30

Yes folks, we are doing it in style this year! R600 for a 4 ball – 9 Hole. Players can book at maria@capetowntattooconvention.co.za. Only experienced golfers can take part. The event will be free to the public and the prize giving will happen after the game at the club house bar. There will also be an after party at House of Machines to round off a perfectly cool day.

Ticket sales for Cape Tattoo Expo 2014 will open 5th February and will be available via http://www.quicket.co.za. Tickets are R100.00 per day or R250.00 for a full weekend pass. Full weekend passes allow free entry to the live music at the City Hall Auditorium on the Saturday night. Note that the day passes do not include access to the live music. The ticket also does not include the price of tattoos. These can be booked with and paid to the artist directly. To book, go to: http://www.capetattooconvention.co.za/artists/ and contact the particular artist. Walk-in tattoos will also be welcome, if time and booking schedules allow.

SixLove Events will also be hosting a ‘tattoo-athon’ in the next few months to raise money for the CHOC Childhood Cancer Foundation SA. CHOC is a national organization dedicated to providing assistance to children that are battling cancer or life-threatening blood disorders, and their families. CHOC was established in 1979 and has Divisions in: Johannesburg, Pretoria, Free State, KwaZulu Natal, Eastern Cape and Western Cape. CHOC is not funded by government, but rather by the donations received from corporates, individuals and parents of children with cancer. Funds raised are applied to directly benefit the children and their families, as well as those involved in the treatment of these serious illnesses. More info about CHOC at: http://www.choc.org.za.

CHOC will be at the Tattoo Expo to tell people more about their cause. The date for the ‘tattoo-athon’ to be announced soon.

Also be sure to join the Southern Ink Xposure and Cape Town International Tattoo Convention Facebook and Twitter groups for all the latest news about related events and artist info.

This is Pocket Cam 15 from Tum Yeto, featuring Dakota Servold, Aaron “Jaws” Homoki, Nick Merlino and Blake Carpenter. The team drive around America looking for fresh spots while they film for the new Dekline video.